Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 1 of 1973 Restructuring the Executive Office of the President.

To the Congress of the United States:

On January 5 I announced a three-part program to streamline the executive branch of the Federal Government. By concentrating less responsibility in the President's immediate staff and more in the hands of the departments and agencies, this program should significantly improve the services of the Government. I believe these reforms have become so urgently necessary that I intend, with the cooperation of the Congress, to pursue them with all of the resources of my office during the coming year.

The first part of this program is a renewed drive to achieve passage of my legislative proposals to overhaul the Cabinet departments. Secondly, I have appointed three Cabinet Secretaries as Counsellors to the President with coordinating responsibilities in the broad areas of human resources, natural resources, and community development, and five Assistants to the President with special responsibilities in the areas of domestic affairs, economic affairs, foreign affairs, executive management, and operations of the White House.

The third part of this program is a sharp reduction in the overall size of the Executive Office of the President and a reorientation of that office back to its original mission as a staff for top-level policy formation and monitoring of policy execution in broad functional areas. The Executive Office of the President should no longer be encumbered with the task of managing or administering programs which can be run more effectively by the departments and agencies. I have therefore concluded that a number of specialized operational and program functions should be shifted out of the Executive Office into the line departments and agencies of the Government. Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1973, transmitted herewith, would effect such changes with respect to emergency preparedness functions and scientific and technological affairs.

STREAMLINING THE FEDERAL SCIENCE ESTABLISHMENT

When the National Science Foundation was established by an act of the Congress in 1950, its statutory responsibilities included evaluation of the Government's scientific research programs and development of basic science policy. In the late 1950's, however, with the effectiveness of the U.S. science effort under serious scrutiny as a result of Sputnik, the post of Science Adviser to the President was established. The White House became increasingly involved in the evaluation and coordination of research and development programs and in science policy matters, and that involvement was institutionalized in 1962 when a reorganization plan established the Office of Science and Technology within the Executive Office of the President, through transfer of authorities formerly vested in the National Science Foundation.

With advice and assistance from OST during the past decade, the scientific and technological capability of the Government has been markedly strengthened. This Administration is firmly committed to a sustained, broad-based national effort in science and technology, as I made plain last year in the first special message on the subject ever sent by a President to the Congress. The research and development capability of the various executive departments and agencies, civilian as well as defense, has been upgraded. The National Science Foundation has broadened from its earlier concentration on basic research support to take on a significant role in applied research as well. It has matured in its ability to play a coordinating and evaluative role within the Government and between the public and private sectors.

I have therefore concluded that it is timely and appropriate to transfer to the Director of the National Science Foundation all functions presently vested in the Office of Science and Technology, and to abolish that office. Reorganization Plan No. 1 would effect these changes.

The multi-disciplinary staff resources of the Foundation will provide analytic capabilities for performance of the transferred functions. In addition, the Director of the Foundation will be able to draw on expertise from all of the Federal agencies, as well as from outside the Government, for assistance in carrying out his new responsibilities.

It is also my intention, after the transfer of responsibilities is effected, to ask Dr. H. Guyford Stever, the current Director of the Foundation, to take on the additional post of Science Adviser. In this capacity, he would advise and assist the White House, Office of Management and Budget, Domestic Council, and other entities within the Executive Office of the President on matters where scientific and technological expertise is called for, and would act as the President's representative in selected cooperative programs in international scientific affairs, including chairing such joint bodies as the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

In the case of national security, the Department of Defense has strong capabilities for assessing weapons needs and for undertaking new weapons development, and the President will continue to draw primarily on this source for advice regarding military technology. The President in special situations also may seek independent studies or assessments concerning military technology from within or outside the Federal establishment using the machinery of the National Security Council for this purpose, as well as the Science Adviser when appropriate.

In one special area of technology-space and aeronautics--a coordinating council has existed within the Executive Office of the President since 1958. This body, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, met a major need during the evolution of our nation's space program. Vice President Agnew has served with distinction as its chairman for the past four years. At my request, beginning in 1969, the Vice President also chaired a special Space Task Group charged with developing strategy alternatives for a balanced U.S. space program in the coming years.

As a result of this work, basic policy issues in the United States space effort have been resolved, and the necessary interagency relationships have been established. I have therefore concluded, with the Vice President's concurrence, that the Council can be discontinued. Needed policy coordination can now be achieved through the resources of the executive departments and agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, augmented by some of the former Council staff. Accordingly, my reorganization plan proposes the abolition of the National Aeronautics and Space Council.

A NEW APPROACH TO EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

The organization within the Executive Office of the President which has been known in recent years as the Office of Emergency Preparedness dates back, through its numerous predecessor agencies, more than 20 years. It has performed valuable functions in developing plans for emergency preparedness, in administering Federal disaster relief, and in overseeing and assisting the agencies in this area.

OEP's work as a coordinating and supervisory authority in this field has in fact been so effective--particularly under the leadership of General George A. Lincoln, its director for the past four years, who retired earlier this month after an exceptional military and public service career--that the line departments and agencies which in the past have shared in the performance of the various preparedness functions now possess the capability to assume full responsibility for those functions. In the interest of efficiency and economy, we can now further streamline the Executive Office of the President by formally relocating those responsibilities and closing the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

I propose to accomplish this reform in two steps. First, Reorganization Plan No. I would transfer to the President all functions previously vested by law in the Office or its Director, except the Director's role as a member of the National Security Council, which would be abolished; and it would abolish the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

The functions to be transferred to the President from OEP are largely incidental to emergency authorities already vested in him. They include functions under the Disaster Relief Act of 1970; the function of determining whether a major disaster has occurred within the meaning of (1) Section 7 of the Act of September 30, 1950, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 241-1, or (2) Section 762 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as added by Section 161 (a) of the Education Amendments of 1972, Public Law 92-318, 86 Stat. 288 at 299 (relating to the furnishing by the Commissioner of Education of disaster relief assistance for educational purposes); and functions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), with respect to the conduct of investigations to determine the effects on national security of the importation of certain articles.

The Civil Defense Advisory Council within OEP would also be abolished by this plan, as changes in domestic and international conditions since its establishment in 1950 have now obviated the need for a standing council of this type. Should advice of the kind the Council has provided be required again in the future, State and local officials and experts in the ' field can be consulted on an ad hoc basis.

Secondly, as soon as the plan became effective, I would delegate OEP's former functions as follows:

--All OEP responsibilities having to do with preparedness for and relief of civil emergencies and disasters would be transferred to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This would provide greater field capabilities for coordination of Federal disaster assistance with that provided by States and local communities, and would be in keeping with the objective of creating a broad, new Department of Community Development.

--OEP's responsibilities for measures to ensure the continuity of civil government operations in the event of major military attack would be reassigned to the General Services Administration, as would responsibility for resource mobilization including the management of national, security stockpiles, with policy guidance in both cases to be provided by the National Security Council, and with economic considerations relating to changes in stockpile levels to be coordinated by the Council on Economic Policy.

--Investigations of imports which might threaten the national security--assigned to OEP by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962--would be reassigned to the Treasury Department, whose other trade studies give it a ready-made capability in this field; the National Security Council would maintain its supervisory role over strategic imports.

Those disaster relief authorities which have been reserved to the President in the past, such as the authority to declare major disasters, will continue to be exercised by him under these new arrangements. In emergency situations calling for rapid interagency coordination, the Federal response will be coordinated by the Executive Office of the President under the general supervision of the Assistant to the President in charge of executive management.

The Oil Policy Committee will continue to function as in the past, unaffected by this reorganization, except that I will designate the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury as chairman in place of the Director of OEP. The Committee will operate under the general supervision of the Assistant to the President in charge of economic affairs.

DECLARATIONS

After investigation, I have found that each action included in the accompanying reorganization plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in Section 901 (a) of title 5 of the United States Code. In particular, the plan is responsive to the intention of the Congress as expressed in Section 901 (a) (1), "to promote better execution of the laws, more effective management of the executive branch and of its agencies and functions, and expeditious administration of the public business;" and in Section 901 (a) (3), "to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable;" and in Section 901 (a)(5), "to reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies or functions as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government."

While it is not practicable to specify all of the expenditure reductions and other economies which will result from the actions proposed, personnel and budget savings from abolition of the National Aeronautics and Space Council and the Office of Science and Technology alone will exceed $2 million annually, and additional savings should result from a reduction of Executive Pay Schedule positions now associated with other transferred and delegated functions.

The plan has as its one logically consistent subject matter the streamlining of the Executive Office of the President and the disposition of major responsibilities currently conducted in the Executive Office of the President, which can better be performed elsewhere or abolished.

The functions which would be abolished by this plan, and the statutory authorities for each, are:

(1) the functions of the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness with respect to being a member of the National Security Council (Sec. 101, National Security Act of 1947, as amended, 50 U.S.C. 402; and Sec. 4, Reorganization Plan No. I of 1958);

(2) the functions of the Civil Defense Advisory Council (Sec. 102(a) Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950; 50 U.S.C. App. 2272(a) ); and

(3) the functions of the National Aeronautics and Space Council (Sec. 201, National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958; 42 U.S.C. 2471 ).

The proposed reorganization is a necessary part of the restructuring of the Executive Office of the President. It would provide through the Director of the National Science Foundation a strong focus for Federal efforts to encourage the development and application of science and technology to meet national needs. It would mean better preparedness for and swifter response to civil emergencies, and more reliable precautions against threats to the national security. The leaner and less diffuse Presidential staff structure which would result would enhance the President's ability to do his job and would advance the interests of the Congress as well.

I am confident that this reorganization plan would significantly increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal Government. I urge the Congress to allow it to become effective.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House,

January 26, 1973.